There aren’t many gifts more practical than grooming items. All of these items are utilitarian and functional, but are luxurious enough that they’re likely not something a man in your life will routinely buy for himself. You can pamper him, and know the gift won’t clutter up his space:

*I* like the Jack Black stuff– only a faint eucalyptus scent, maybe, and they are quite effective–the salicylic acid toner and the lip balm (SPF 25!) in a soft tube, as well as the hand cream are my faves.

@Matt — The all-metal, no batteries nose and ear hair trimmers are fantastic. I’ve given those as gifts before and always been thanked. Frustrated that I forgot to put one in the post. Here’s a link to the same thing on Amazon:

I splurged on the First Aid Beauty stuff as a facial moisturizer a while back. It made my skin break out, but everyone’s skin is different and it could work great for other skin types.
I’d also like to recommend a good massage (from a reputable massage therapist…of course) as an indulgent, uncluttered gift for a male.

I second the Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap. I prefer the liquid variety – great for shampoo and body wash, the bars are nice too. I generally don’t use it on my face. I consider myself pretty rough around the edges so Dr. Bronner’s suits me.

Unfortunately I don’t know a single man who would appreciate any of these items as a Christmas present. They would just sit there until I take it upon myself to toss them out a year or so later. Similar experiences, anyone?

I just offered a small rant on my site about consumerism, the holidays, gifts, travel, life, choices. Sometimes I feel like minimalism is just another form of consumerism. Unfortunately, all “isms” seem to have a basic sameness, don’t you find?

I can whole-heartedly endorse the Merkur razor. I switched to double-edge razor shaving a few years ago and get consistently better shaves, the blades last much longer than the disposable multi blades I had been using previously, and the blades are vanishingly inexpensive to begin with. As well, the shaving soap lasts forever (I’m still on my first bar after ~2 years).

The biggest down side is that it is impractical to fly with. For that, I need to use disposables and a small can of shave cream.

Why do I need so much stuff? For shaving I just need a razor, shaving cream and aftershave.

The problem with Safety razor is that you can’t get the
blades through airport security. Blades are way cheaper and better, on the other side there are multiple ways to sharpen your razor blades of disposable razors.

On the other side, there are also straight razors, where you never need to buy blades.

Toe nail clipper? I never understood why I need a toe nail clipper. Never had a use for it. Shouldn’t be a fingernail scissors good enough?

I thought the ingrown toenail clippers were interesting until I saw the amazon page. Toenails should NEVER be cut at an angle, as this will just perpetuate the ingrown toenail. Toenails should always be cut straight across. Toenails push up against your skin (which happens naturally when wearing shoes) – cutting them on angles is what causes them to cut into your skin and become ingrown, rather than grow out from your toe as they should.

I’m with you Bren. None of the men in my life would appreciate any of this stuff. They’re good ideas and all, just not for my household. Still have no clue what I’m getting my 20-something boys this year! At least my 20 year old girl has a new apartment so there are lots of possibilities…

Every year I give money to Hospice in honor of each of my family, or in memory of their loved ones. Not bragging, because this is SO EASY I’m embarrassed. I’ve also done books for the library in their names, adopted manatees, and so forth. We all have everything we need. The library books are especially nice as we’re a reading family.